NCJ Number
105295
Date Published
1987
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This paper explains how the scientific 'dialectical method' can be used to measure productivity in criminal justice agencies.
Abstract
Past and current research efforts to develop a productivity measure have failed because they have not given due attention to the difference between the 'inside' (efficiency) and 'outside' (effectiveness) of a producing unit. Research has also erred in focusing only on individuals as consumers of a producing unit rather than on society as a consumer. There has been inattention to the 'quality' of the producing unit's output and to whether the producing unit output is 'productive' or 'overhead.' Research has failed to appreciate the joint purpose of labor and capital, the relationship between productivity and progress, and important measurement foundations discussed by past researchers. These past failures in productivity measurement can be remedied by approaching measurement out of the dialectical method proposed by Plato, Socrates, Nichols of Cusa, Riemann, and others. Dialectical methods unify opposites by a connecting continuum that is a mixture or synthesis of opposites. Productivity measurements determine the degree to which a production unit moves society toward the desired extreme. In the case of criminal justice agencies, productivity must be measured not only by internal efficiency but also by the extent to which society is less crime ridden as a result of the production unit's efforts. 9 references.